Karen S. Wiesner {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge" by Charlie Lovett

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge"

by Charlie Lovett

by Karen S. Wiesner

"Merry Christmas" ringing out in the sweltering heat of a June summer? What else would be on the lips of a transformed man after the events of "A Christmas Carol" (which was the focus of my December 22, 2023 column "The Practice of Benevolence {A Reflection on Dicken's A Christmas Carol}" https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-practice-of-benevolence-reflection.html). "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge" by Charlie Lovett--author of such highly recommended literary mystery titles as The Bookman's Tale and First Impressions--was published in 2015, which came 172 years after Dickens' timeless tale.

In this, Scrooge's testimony of a transformed life, twenty years have passed since he was visited by the ghosts that changed everything in a single night. His radical shift, as the joy and benevolence of Christmas become an integral part of his daily life, have spilled over to those around him, altering them as well, but not always for the better. Scrooge gives of himself and his wealth sacrificially--leaving little or nothing for his own meager requirements--to all in need. Nothing discourages his cheer. However, the hard lessons he's learned haven't necessarily carried over to those he loves.

His nephew Fred (Freddie) has a wife and family, along with an uncompromising governmental position working for the assistant to the undersecretary. Unfortunately, he's grasped that, "with bills to pay…books to balance…a year older and not a farthing richer", he can afford no more than a few days of Christmas each year.

In Scrooge's own business, Bob Cratchit has been made a partner, only he's allowed his extreme work ethic to dominate his life to the exclusion of his once beloved family and their many grandchildren.

Meanwhile, the bankers (affectionately called Pleasant and Portly by Scrooge) have become more concerned with Scrooge's current balance of outstanding debt rather than "making some slight concession for the poor" not simply once a year at the holidays. Scrooge writes cheques his account can't cover in order to help the destitute running rampant in their city.

That evening, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley. His heavy chains of penance have been lessened by Scrooge's redemption--but only by five links. Marley holds no hope that he can ever decrease it more. Scrooge is determined to help his old friend eliminate the weighty burden and send him to a well-deserved rest. To do that, he calls upon the familiar spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future to teach valuable lessons about living Christmas charity all year round to Freddie, Bob, and the bankers.

Although I was originally put off by the idea of the characters I knew and loved in the original story taking on the less than appealing traits Scrooge once displayed (essentially becoming hypocrites, as the only time of year that seemed to bring out goodwill in all of them was at Christmas), I did find the evolving facets of their personality realistic:

·       In "A Christmas Carol", Scrooge's nephew was very young, newly married, without a family and position as the breadwinner and a member of society to weigh him down. With greater responsibility come greater burdens.

·       Cratchit was moved overnight from apprentice to partner, and he'd known Scrooge long enough not to be fully trusting that that situation couldn't change in a duplicitous heartbeat.

·       And bankers…well, bankers are known for loving wealth, not spreading it around as if it's easy to come by.

I was also won over by how Lovett took familiar quotes from the original "paraphrasing, parodying, and plagiarizing passages" (as he says). Because of the clever repurposing Lovett did with those beloved sections, I began to notice that this story was structured and laid out almost scene by scene just as the original story had been. In that way, "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge" stayed true to its processor.

Additionally, Lovett incorporated Dickens--also a great social reformer in his time, as his debatably most famous character Scrooge became--into this story with references of Dickens as a famous author in Scrooge's time. Finally, allusions were made to Dickens' other works, where he described the less fortunate in Victorian London in such works as Bleak House, Little Dorrit, David Copperfield, and others.

If you love re-reading the enduring morals taught in "A Christmas Carol" during the holidays as I do, you'll adore "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge" any time of year as an apt reminder that not only can we bless others less fortunate than ourselves with our kindness and benevolence, but that we inevitably receive the same in exchange by opening our hands and our hearts. In this way, we also further the game-changing principle of "paying it forward" one precious life at a time.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Beware Ignorance and Want by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Beware Ignorance and Want

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

 

From A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens:

 They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread. 

Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude. 

“Spirit! are they yours?” Scrooge could say no more.  

“They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!” cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. “Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end!”

The cells that make up the body--whether human, animal, or even plant--are countless, diversified, and specialized. There are different types that each do something special, all with the goal of working efficiently with the rest of the cells. In this way, the body can run so smoothly, few of us are even aware of their existence.

Some cells work with larger organisms within the body. For instance, white blood cells subject themselves to the determination of a higher function that assigns it specific duties. At the times when an invader enters the body, the white blood cell rushes toward danger, often forced to sacrifice itself for the sake of the function it serves. Both danger and self-sacrifice are at the heart of its very existence. For the greater good, it does what it has to in order to defend and keep the body alive. 

Cells don't always work "in community" though. For whatever reason, a cell can become selfish and superior, working against the body with every fiber of its being to serve its own ends. A parasite or cancer cell, literally, considers nothing except its own survival and what it needs to thrive. They maintain complete independence of the whole while freely and selfishly partaking in the benefits of being part of the body. These cells leave the body in want, weaker and sickened. 

In a similar way, individual cells that make up a body are like a community. When all are working together in one place, each undeniably functions better--to the best of their ability. Unconditionally, the individuals within the community share in the fruits and privileges of belonging together. Individual parts have no choice about whether they can live or thrive separate from the rest of the body. A hand, a foot, an eye--none of these can live apart from the rest of the body. But, by existing as a coherent team, everyone flourishes. 

Also, like cells, communities don't always exist in harmony. A community at odds keeps all within it divided and at war, shrouded in the ignorance of shunning everything and everyone around them that doesn't fit a limited agenda. 

Charles Dickens' beloved A Christmas Carol goes out of its way to show us that we can't choose a single day of the year to effect changes within a community that will benefit the whole. Social responsibility must be a daily, continuous pursuit. But so often our global body (our community) is ripped apart by self-focus and flavor of the day, hot-button disagreements. Like cancer cells or parasites, these agendas feed off the slightest bit of hate, superiority, ignorance, and want. 

Another universal truth highlighted in A Christmas Carol is that, when everyone is treating everyone else with respect, regardless of natural or preferential diversity, they become "…fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys." Every part that makes up a body is unique and crucial, even if it's unaware of all each does to make the whole better and healthy. All are equal. None are superior. Humility, acceptance, cooperation, and daily goodwill are the only ways for a body and a community to function. 

This time of the year and every other, human beings can learn a lot from the way our own bodies function in the ideal when every part is grateful for the rest. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights Edited by Chris Bain, Patrick Weekes, Matthew Goldman, and Christopher Morgan by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights

Edited by Chris Bain, Patrick Weekes, Matthew Goldman, and Christopher Morgan

by Karen S. Wiesner

  

Warning Spoilers! 

Prior to Dragon Age: The Veilguard's release (which I reviewed last week and you'll probably want to refer back to in reading the reviews of these strongly connected individual tales), a new anthology of short stories was released in March 2020 called Tevinter Nights. As the name implies, all the stories are set in Dragon Age's Thedas, many directly in the Tevinter Imperium, where magic-wielding magisters rule and blood magic isn't forbidden. I bought the book (complete with a gorgeous, foldout, color map) at the time of its publication and read it, but since The Veilguard was still in development at that time (and wasn't even named that until later), I felt like I didn't understand where all the stories were coming from. Following the release of The Veilguard, I got it out again and started rereading it. With a much better understanding of all the things going on around the events of the new game, I enjoyed the stories immensely. In fact, it may be the only anthology collection that I enjoyed every single one of the stories included. The tagline of this collection really says it all: "Ancient horrors. Marauding invaders. Powerful mages. And a world that refuses to stay fixed… Welcome to Thedas." Dragon Age is everything I look for in the fantasy genre and then some. 

In this collection, readers are getting a real treat with stories written by nine BioWare staff writers who really know the world contained in the Dragon Age franchise that includes but isn't limited to videogames, electronic games, books, comics, film and television, tabletop roleplaying games, and music. As I said last week, you might be interested in my previous review of all things Dragon Age, which is here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2022/11/karen-wiesner-fiction-series-so-big.html. 

Below you'll find reviews of every story in the collection. Be aware that a major plot angle in Dragon Age: The Veilguard videogame centers around ancient Tevinter artifacts being stolen or unearthed in order to aid the evil that wants to take over the world. So several of these short tales have that as a major theme. Below, I've listed each story in the order they appear in the original publication.

                                                                   

1.     "Three Trees to Midnight" by Patrick Weekes: At the time The Veilguard is set, there's a qunari invasion going on in Thedas that's changing the world. This first story focuses on their capture of a Dalish elf Veil Jumper named Strife (who's featured in the videogame along with Irelin, a team-mate also in this story) and a mage named Myrion. Qunari deeply distrust and put down mages, so Myrion has to hide his powers once he's captured. He's chained to the elf Strife. Tevinter magisters treat elves as nothing more than slaves. So there was a lot of "Enemy Mine" racial prejudice in this this story as the two are forced to work together in order to escape their relentless captors.

 

2.     "Down Among the Dead Men" by Sylvia Feketekuty: The Mourn Watch are the elite guardians of the Grand Necropolis, reverently caring for the dead. They're also a faction of a larger organization, the Mortalitasi. In Inquisition, I was led to believe the Moralitasi are all evil, but in The Veilguard, I learned that's not always the case. We met one of their order, Emmrich, in Veilguard, along with his beloved skeletal companion Manfred, and I was pleased to see them play a role in this particular story in which a guardsman investigates a death in the Necropolis. Very intriguing setting in both the game and this wonderful story with a twist ending.

 

3.     "The Horror of Hormak" by John Epler: My favorite part of Dragon Age has always been the Grey Wardens, those who give so sacrificially in order to maintain a constant vigilance over the return of darkspawn and potential Blights. This story has two Wardens investigating the disappearance of a scouting party. This story is horror in its purest, most intriguing form, and it was an instant favorite of mine.

 

4.     "Callback" by Lukas Kristjanson: Dragon Age: Inquisition had an unmarked quest about "Sutherland and Company" that was mainly followed through War Table operations. If you didn't screw these up and prematurely end the venture, they culminated in an actual crusade for the Inquisitor to save Sutherland and his band of misfits. In this story, the Inquisition has disbanded but their headquarters Skyhold is still maintained by caretakers that haven't been heard from in a while. Sutherland and Company are sent by the Inquisitor to investigate. I loved revisiting Skyhold and these uber-loyal, unlikely heroes.

 

5.     "Luck in the Gardens" by Sylvia Feketekuty: Another beloved Inquisition character, Dorian, makes an appearance in this fun story in which a member of the Lords of Fortune (from The Veilguard) investigates a series of monster killings in Minrathous.

 

6.     "Hunger" by Brianne Battye: In The Veilguard, we're introduced to two married Grey Wardens, Evka and Antoine. This story takes place while these new recruits are traveling to report for duty at Weisshaupt Fortress. They're sidetracked in a town cursed by mysterious and monstrous deaths. This was a neat background to the roles these two end up playing in the videogame, and a precursor to their romance.

 

7.     "Murder by Death Mages" by Caitlin Sullivan Kelly: Mortalitasi is the umbrella organization of "death mages" in the Grand Necropolis that advise Nevarran nobility. The Pentaghast family (re: Cassandra from Inquisition) were some of the founders. Though the group is well-respected in Nevarra, outside they're feared as a cult. The current ruler of Nevarra is aged and weak, his sanity uncertain, and most believe the Mortalitasi are ruling through him. Cassandra Pentaghast, one of the Inquisition's inner circle, assigns a volunteer in the Inquisition to investigate the death of a death mage. This Inquisition mage volunteer was raised by and eventually abandoned this particular death mage, vowing never to return to Nevarra. A Mortalitasi member is suspected of causing political unrest in order to assassinate Nevarra's ruler. Both Cassandra and this investigator have a lot at stake in seeing this situation resolved. While the point-of-view character wasn't exactly lovable, with baggage that's made her bitter and withdrawn, the story had an intriguing whodunit with a lot of complications to keep it suspenseful.

 

8.     "The Streets of Minrathous" by Brianne Battye: Neve Gallus is one of the main companions in The Veilguard, a member of the Shadow Dragons, and a supernatural detective. In the videogame, her loyalty quests all involve a Venatori agent, Aelia, who's trying to subjugate Minrathous (isn't it ironic how often a tyrant calls it "freeing" a population?). This story is the background to all of that--and it's also here we find out what happened to the Templar Brom, something only referenced in the videogame. I enjoyed this setup to a pivotal character in the game.

 

9.     "The Wigmaker Job" by Courtney Woods: Another inner circle Veilguard member, Lucanis Dellamorte, is an Antivan Crow assassin. We learn much more of his background in this story detailing a heist with his cousin Illario (also featured in the videogame), which doesn't get into how Lucanis came to have a demon inhabiting his body, which is a focus of the game.

 

10.  "Genitivi Dies in the End" by Lukas Kristjanson: The Veilguard Lords of Fortune are included in this crazy, off-beat story that I really don't even know how to describe beyond that a weird group containing a bard, a brother in the Chantry, a qunari mage, and a writer take on qunari Antaam (military) in order to steal some ancient elven artifacts. It seems they did this for the sole purpose of their art--in other words, so they'd have something exciting to write about for their ravenous fans to devour. Writers will appreciate this literary escapade, highlighting the extreme lengths authors will go to get a great story.

11.  "Herold Had the Plan" by Ryan Cormier: Two Lords of Fortune (one who recently lost his adventuring partner Herold of four decades) stealthily steal an ancient Tevinter relic that heals even the deadliest of wounds during a Grand Tourney. Unfathomably, every knight in the arena is instantly on their tails. Before long, they realize that their third partner-in-crime has stolen the tourney's grand prize right off the grandstand--the legendary Celebrant greatsword. This was a fun, thrilling story that had unexpected depth and heart at its core.

 

12.  "An Old Crow's Old Tricks" by Arone Le Bray: Lessef of the Antivan Crows fulfills the contract to exact vengeance on those who murdered the Dalish elf clan Oranava. This was a clever story that took a bit to coalesce and make sense, as it's told mainly from the points-of-view of those about to be assassinated who foolishly think they're invincible.

 

13.  "Eight Little Talons" by Courtney Woods: This was probably my favorite in the collection. Here, the author has done an Agatha Christie, following the style of And Then There Were None. The eight major players that head the Antivan Crows are called "Talons" and the hierarchy is from Talon 8 being the lowest of them, to Talon 1 being the highest ranking. Along with their fellow Talons, #5 Talon Viago and #7 Teia (who are featured in The Veilguard) are called to a summit at the First Talon's island home to discuss the qunari and the security of their nation, Treviso. One by one, the Talons are picked off at this secluded meeting, each death re-enacting infamous Crow assassins of the past. This is an obvious statement that no other Crows are safe. In this location, the killer is either hiding somewhere on the island or it's one of their own. (Intriguing--Crows hunting Crows.) Viago and Teia investigate. I loved both of these well-drawn characters, and their obvious attraction to each other sets the stage for their compelling banter in the videogame.

 

14.  "Half Up Front" by John Epler: Another Tevinter artifact--Dumat's Folly (a puzzle that needed to be solved in the Dragon Age II DLC Legacy)--has been stolen. A thief is hired to find out who stole it from the Chantry and why--and to steal it back. The events in this tale directly play into the videogame, which really adds more dimension to that story, since this artifact is one that's integral to Solas/Fen-Harel's ultimate plan. I will also note that the story reminded me a lot of the events in the manga TV miniseries, Dragon Age: Absolution, which aired on Netflix in December 2022 and takes place around the time of The Veilguard. In Absolution, the Inquisition employs two members of the Absolution team, one of them its agent Fairbanks, who was a freedom fighter that asked the Inquisition to reclaim his home, the Emerald Graves. None of the other characters in the miniseries are recognizable, to me anyway. (The voices are very familiar for those who play videogames though.) While I really can't stand anime and manga and therefore I had a lot of trouble getting through even three of the six episodes available in the first season, there were some fun moments in the early episodes and the overall story had a really good twist I didn't see coming (I read a summary of the final episodes rather than forcing myself to watch them). Fans of the series that enjoy anime or manga would probably get much more out of Absolution than I did. Suffice it to say that the story in Absolution paralleled a lot of what was in "Half Up Front", almost too closely. At first, I even though they were the same characters from one to the other, though they weren't. In the end, I felt like one of these was redundant, as they're so similar as to be the same story. I believe "Half Up Front" is probably the most valuable, as it points directly to events in The Veilguard.

 

15.  "The Dread Wolf Take You" by Patrick Weekes: "May the Dread Wolf take you" is an old Dalish curse that gives this story even more meaning. The main character, Charter, was one of Leliana's top spies from Dragon Age: Inquisition. In this story, she's called together a clandestine meeting of Thedas's top spies in order to share information about Solas and his plans to restore the ancient elven empire by tearing down the Veil. In this secret place are a Carta assassin, a Moralitasi, an "Executor" from across the sea, and an Orlesian bard. Each tells a piece of the tale, and it becomes clear that the target for each of their encounters with Solas was the red lyrium idol that was the cause of destruction in Kirkwall in DA II. Little does Charter realize that the cloak-and-dagger meeting has an unexpected guest! I read this story all but holding my breath. I couldn't identify any of the characters other than Charter, but it was very clear that this was the setup for events (and even some of the pivotal settings) about to unfold in The Veilguard.

For anyone following my reviews of short story collections and my philosophy about how short story collections should be arranged, I think the editors did a fantastic job of exactly placing every story in Tevinter Nights in the order needed for optimal reading. The slightly weaker stories are wonderfully anchored and buoyed by the stronger ones with the strongest ones as the first, last, and middle. 

In one sense, Tevinter Nights may not be a good introduction into the world explored in the Dragon Age series, since a lot of the material requires a bit of understanding in how the world of Thedas is run, the crucial events, etc. But, in another, these are just well-written, slice of life stories, a lot of which include magic, mages, mysteries, monsters, and intricate political machinations. Even if you're not familiar with DA lore, there's still lot to love here and, if you're ultimately lured in by these compelling tales, there's so much more to explore in this expansive realm. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog 

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Videogame Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Videogame Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Warning Spoilers! 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard videogame was released at long last on October 31, 2024 and is the fourth major game in the franchise, a direct sequel to 2014's Inquisition, set ten years after those events. All new locations in the fictional world of Thedas are revealed, including Tevinter Imperium, which fans like me have been champing at the bit to explore since it was first mentioned in the previous games and books. You can find my review of the wide world of Dragon Age here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2022/11/karen-wiesner-fiction-series-so-big.html. 

At the end of Inquisition, Thedas was saved yet again, but Solas, the elven mage on the Inquisitor's main team, inexplicably went missing following the final battle. Readers then watched a very strange, final scene in which Solas secretly meets with Mythal--the elven protector, all-mother, and goddess of love that we've known throughout the series as Flemeth, Witch of the Wilds, and who's come in many forms, including as a High Dragon in DA II and Inquisition. The consequences of that meeting between Solas and Mythal proved shocking to the extreme! 

The very last chapter of Inquisition you could play was the DLC Trespasser, set two years after the Inquisitor's victory against the villain Corypheous. The Inquisition goes to the Winter Palace in Halamshiral for diplomatic talks concerning the future of their organization. A secret qunari invasion is uncovered as the Inquisitor's inner circle utilizes the Eluvian network, which is a series of elven-made, enchanted mirrors that connect and allow for fast transportation and communication. All of this is interwoven with their pursuit of former comrade Solas and finding out what he's up to. At the end of Trespasser (if all the clues were found during the game), Solas reveals that he's in fact Fen-Harel, an elven god of old that many called the Dread Wolf. He created the Veil--the metaphysical boundary between the physical world and the Fade (a dimension of dreams and magic where a lot of demons and trapped spirits hang out). He did it to imprison two other ancient, evil elven gods. Solas's intention is to collapse the Veil and restore the world of the ancient elves, something that will almost certainly destroy the rest of the world. 

The Veilguard's protagonist "Rook" (the player gets to choose a first name) is recruited by Varric Tethras, who's been in the series from the beginning. Varric is intent on finding Solas to stop him from destroying the Veil. When Rook disrupts Solas's ritual, two ancient evil gods are released while Solas becomes imprisoned in the Fade and bound to Rook through blood. Gods' of old siblings Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain plan to harness the blight--darkspawn corruption--in order to rule the world. 

Because of their connection, Rook ends up at the Lighthouse, Solas's "home" in the Fade. This becomes the main hub and base of operations for Rook and companions between quests. Rook recruits a team that needs to be strengthened through faction cooperation and personal loyalty in order to defeat the villains. The following are recruited early in the game:

·       Harding of the Inquisition, who was the lead scout for all locations in the previous game, though not a member of that inner circle, as she is here. (The Inquisitor does actually play a role in Veilguard.)

·       Neve, representing the Shadow Dragons, a Tevinter resistance group that opposes corruption and slavery--and Venatori, a supremist cult of mainly mages who worship the ancient elven pantheon of gods, the Evanuris. First, the Venatori supported Corypheus in Inquisition and in Veilguard they're now backing Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain. (Note that Dorian from Inquisition is associated with the Shadow Dragons.)

·       Lucanis, an Antivan Crow, an organization of elite thieves, spies, and assassins that have been part of the world since the beginning.

·       Bellara, a Veil Jumper, the group uncovering the secrets of Arlathan forest's ancient elven empire, once their capital. (Note that Morrigan, who's been a feature in DA since Origins, makes a comeback in this game, first appearing alongside the Veil Jumpers.)

·       Davrin, a Grey Warden, an age-old order committed to fighting darkspawn and the Blight, along with Assan, an adorable griffon. Up until this point in the series, it's been believed griffons were extinct. What a thrill to have my longing for them to be brought back fulfilled!

·       Emmrich of the Mourn Watch, guardians of Nevarra's Grand Necropolis.

·       Taash of the Lords of Fortune, a guild of Rivaini treasure hunters. (Isabela, the pirate, from DA Origins and II is associated with this faction and plays a role in this game.)

Even if the Veilguard--with the backing of hopefully all the factions--manages to stop Elgar-nan and Ghilan'nain, they still have to convince Solas not to collapse the Veil and destroy the world as they know it. 

I preordered the deluxe edition for both PS5 and Xbox 10 and uploaded it just as soon as I could get the wrapping off the games. I began playing and invested 125 hours in it over the next little-more-than-a-week, achieving 100% of the accomplishments. Stylistically gorgeous and immersive, I was drawn in immediately. I absolutely loved the character creation. As usual, you can "design" your Rook from top to bottom, choosing to be male, female, or even non-binary. You can be a human, a dwarf, an elf, or a qunari. You decide whether to play as a rogue, a mage, or a warrior and choose a specialization in each class. Additionally, you have to select a faction to be affiliated with (Shadow Dragon, Antivan Crow, Veil Jumper, Grey Warden, Mourn Watch, or Lords of Fortune). You even get to design the previous Inquisitor from Inquisition, as that character gets an important role in Veilguard as well, considering their background with Solas. Because there are so many choices to make, you could replay this game dozens of times and never have the same experience. 

Two new things you can choose from in the settings are: 1) whether to have your Rook full-on naked or wearing "smallclothes" when undressed, and 2) whether Rook can die in the many, many battles. I found both to be major improvements. However, I didn't care for the sparse-enough-to-be-useless, in-game maps. There were beacons in each of the locations that provided location markers and fast travel options. However, none were named so I could never remember which ones were near merchant locations or other important areas, etc. Some of the treasure was marked on the maps, but not all of it, and not all locations were open through various points in the game, so I always had to go back later and find more since I wanted the 100% achievement. There was also only one option for setting markers on the map to follow--via the visible treasure chests. Since each location had multiple floors, it quickly became a nightmare. Puzzles were a huge part of this game, which I mainly loved, though some were hard enough to make me want to cry. I wasted countless hours being lost and frustrated by finding and completing these--the things I spent the majority of my time on in this game were locating everything and solving all the puzzles in every location. At least those were mainly enjoyable. 

The first several "chapters" of the game were more like a movie the developers wanted players to watch rather than actively participate in. All the dialogue, combat, and treasure-finding struck me as distractions while the theme was being established. Then Rook made it to the Lighthouse, and suddenly the entire world opened up. I knew that this game was going to be much more linear than previous ones, which are open-world and can be explored without any need to hurry or follow a set list of quests. I'm not a huge fan of linear games, preferring to set my own pace and decide what to do in the order I choose. That said, I found I didn't mind the linear construction as much as I initially feared I would because there was a lot of freedom despite it. 

This is one of the few games I've played where everything felt so real, I could have actually been there alongside the characters, living every moment of it. Even when I left to, you know, actually live my own life, I felt that a huge part of me was still there. All the mystery, suspense, thrills, horror, sadness, devastation, laughter and relief--it's built in and abundant in The Veilguard. The character relationships were incredible. Few games are so attentive to constant interactions between all the characters. If I left the Lighthouse for a mere two seconds, there was always new dialogue with all the team members when I returned. Also, in previous games, team members engaged in dialogue that was lost whenever a situation started or we left an area. Here, the characters kept returning to that same dialogue until it was completed, so I didn't miss anything. 

Additionally, romance options were made "pansexual" with all the companions as options. I admit that in my first playthrough, I wasn't absolutely thrilled with the romance my Grey Warden human rogue Rook had with Davrin because it was so slow-moving as to be virtually nonexistent. There was a single quest near the end of his companion missions that solidified the romance, and there was some mild kissing in that. Even there, dialogue wasn't sexy or particularly romantic, nor did it continue when they returned to the Lighthouse. Then, when all hell broke loose and the world was shattering beyond recognition, there was a very weird scene in which Davrin says he'll meet Rook in her room at the Lighthouse. What took place there was so painfully inappropriate, I could barely stand it--mainly because of the timing. The very last thing I would have felt like doing at that juncture was getting it on with someone I'd exchanged only mostly friendship banter with up to that point. The relationship should have had many more romantic interactions and then taken that intimate turn much sooner, so it would have felt more natural and not so "What the heck? It's the end of the world and you wanna do what?" It was excruciating. I was glad it wasn't graphic and that the consummation was over quickly. Hopefully romances with other characters in subsequent playthroughs will be more realistic, better developed, and fit the events around them in a much more organic way. 

The locations were diverse and some of the best I've ever encountered in a game. I enjoyed getting to know each of them and learning so much more about the world and lore of Dragon Age. 

The end-of-game sequence was epic, so life-like, I alternated between tears, terror, and complete exhaustion. Inquisition was a bust when it came to the final battle. It wasn't difficult, and, after 130 hours of game play, felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. Not so in The Veilguard! My team was in jeopardy often--in part because of the (fortunately, good and wise) choices I made throughout the game--during escalating tiers of events all leading toward the final showdown. In this game, there's an ideal ending, a good ending, and a bad ending. I got the ideal my first time through, mainly because my priority never wavered from building my team's loyalty and the helping the factions in whatever way I could. 

I worried because I bought and started playing the game immediately after it came out (not something I ever do) that it'd have a lot of glitches and I'd miss something through the first playthrough that would adversely affect me until I could rectify the situation with a second playing. When a game is first released, gamers can no longer buy the huge, deluxe printed walkthrough books that Prima used to offer in advance, for those who like to know what they're going into prior to playing the game. Now we rely on other online gamers if we get to the point where we're stuck while playing for the first time. There's not a lot of material available when a game is initially released, so I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring things out on my own without help. When I'm playing a game, I want the experience of the story, not necessarily any of the frustration. So my endeavor wasn't as rewarding as you might assume. 

In the end, I did get everything that mattered. Incidentally, one of the achievements--the 52nd out of a total of 53--was basically something like "falling at the Lighthouse". I couldn't figure out what that meant and tried different things in the course of gameplay without success, so Achievement 52 and the one for getting all other achievements went unfinished when I completed the game. At that time, I decided to go back in and try something else. I had a save I'd called "PointofNoReturn" and retained which allowed me to attempt one last thing to get those final two achievements. This time what I did worked, and I got a hundred percent of the achievements. Lucky I had that save! While I'm not sure which Dragon Age game installment is my favorite (2 and 3 are definitely contenders), The Veilguard is now firmly near the top as well. 

For those interested, I've uploaded a comprehensive quest list (that includes major spoilers) for The Veilguard on my website. You can find it here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/5/5/23554234/dragonagetheveilguardchecklist.pdf. 

Next week, I'll review the corresponding collection of short stories, Tevinter Nights, that came out in advance of DA: The Veilguard. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Daily Thanksgiving by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Daily Thanksgiving

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

 

“Be curious, not judgmental.” ~Marguerite and Marshall Shearer 

I read something recently about a father who'd lost his young daughter. Coming to terms with his grief brought him to a place where he realized that life is a gift. It's not something that's earned, deserved, or that any of us have a right to. It's just there when we're born. The proof of that estimation is that 1), in life, there's nothing that can't be taken away from us, and that, 2) in death, we can't take anything with us. The appropriate response to a gift is gratitude, even if and when that gift is taken away from us. As I'm sure that devastated dad did, the first (and probably the hundredth) reaction was to give up, roll over, and withdraw. Sometimes we're quick to judge a situation we're in--whether it's a tragedy or a reason to celebrate--without giving time the option of altering our outlook in whatever way it will from one second to another. 

This made me think about just how much we all judge in the course of a single day. We judge things not only negatively, but also positively and somewhere in-between. Judging is helpless, hapless, habitual, and a form of its own kind of hell because it won't ever end unless we try to change what seems ingrained in every living being on this planet. From the moment we wake up until finally exhausted, we fall asleep, we're continuously judging everything inside, outside, and all around us. 

We judge how we're feeling from one moment to the next as if our estimation determines the rest of the day, the rest of the year, or the rest of our lives. (What a testimony for not making quick decisions about anything we're going through!) 

We judge our dreams, our aspirations, what we eat, what we drink, what we read, the state of the weather, our wardrobe, our appearance, our own height and weight and everyone else's, our jobs (or lack therefore) and hobbies, our interactions with other living beings (including loved ones, pets, plants, strangers), our living arrangements, our bank accounts, our exercise or refusal to workout, our politics, our internet connection, our selected news reports and everything else happening in the world. 

We judge ourselves and everyone around us whether a presence is physical, over the phone, via an email, on TV or social media, or through a window to the neighbor's house or the street. 

What would it be like to live life without this kind of constant, relentless, ruthless, impulsive judging that all too often causes us to become mired in something toxic? It's really not even imaginable that we could prevent judging, is it? This activity is as natural to us as breathing. 

One thing within our power to do is realize that life in the sense of everything can be a gift that we didn't earn, we don't deserve, and we don't have a right to. I'm not sure about you, but that's a humbling thought that makes me take a breath and even a step backwards. There's nothing that can't be taken away from us in this life and we can't take anything with us when we die. In this way, is it possible to simply accept things as they come and go and view them all as experiences that shape us, hopefully for the better? Even pain could prove to be a gift if viewed the right way--after all, there's no better way to grow and evolve than with hardships that may wreck or leave us numb but could also refine and renew us. The bitter truth is frequently more welcome and illuminating than sweet deception. Darkness makes us appreciate the balm of light. A bird's eye view of death can close and suffocate us but sometimes it opens the panorama that is and can be life as we know it. 

As humans, we're going to judge. That's a given. But mindfully forcing ourselves to perceive all the gifts we're given from one moment to the next can determine our own attitudes going forward in these minutes that make up our short lives. Find a way to be grateful for the things that make up your day-to-day, including the things you've lost, because all we'll ever have is this time to exist and experience, good and bad, what life has to offer. 

Breakfast cereal may not be a Thanksgiving turkey with all the fixing's, but it's food, you need it to survive, and, hey, you got a whole box of it sitting in your kitchen, maybe even the kind with little marshmallows in it. Not everyone can say that. 

Your job may not be one you've always hoped for, but it's probably better than not having one at all. You may not have chosen to work with those particular people but, don't forget, when COVID was ruling all our lives only a few years ago, we would have been ecstatic to see those same people because it meant we were out in the world, interacting instead of merely surviving in hollow isolation. Our kids wanted to go to school during that time but were forbidden to. I don't know about you, but I never, ever want to go back to the state of a half-life where vital connections could equally mean hope to get through another day or week just as well as cause the spread of something we wouldn't wish on anyone. 

You may have lost something you loved and couldn't hold onto. But it was in your life for however long, and you got to know it and love it. While you're alive, those memories will always be yours, complete with the laughter that now puts tears in your eyes; the fun that, at the time, made it feel like it could never end; and the deep richness of intimacy with another human being that made you feel alive and that you would have said was worth anything (even eventual loss) to have if for only one moment. Remember that. Don't ever let it go. It was a gift, and it was worth anything to hold as long as you did. 

Judging everything is just what we do as human beings. We may or may not have any control of that aspect, but it is within our grasp to find vantage points that allow us to be grateful for the experiences we've been granted all around us, some dressed up in the guise of things we may initially think we don't care for. I encourage you to try to make it through a whole day actively looking for hidden gifts littered all along your path and find a way to see them as boons. Whether or not you actually make it for long, try to extend it into the next day and the next. Daily thanksgiving can grow into a habit. Ritual judging in all its extremes may become the route to finding unexpected treasures that bring profound and enduring joy in an often heartless world. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/